Drill collar laydown wagon



April 5, 1955 T. B. ADAMS DRILL COLLAR LAYDOWN WAGON 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed 001;. 27, 1950 ATTORNEYS.

April 5,1955 T. B. ADAMS 2,705,645

DRILL COLLAR LAYDOWN WAGON Filed Oct. 27, 1950 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Ill" zz "III" 4 a INVENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent DRILL COLLAR LAYDOWN WAGON Travis B. Adams, Monahans, Tex.

Application October 27, 1950, Serial No. 192,431

2 Claims. (Cl. 28047.13)

This invention relates to apparatus used in the handling of oil well drill collars. More particularly, the invention has reference to apparatus of the general class stated, specifically designed to provide a rollable support for the lower end of a drill collar during the movement of said collar from a vertical position in which it is suspended within the derrick, to a horizontal position in which it rests upon the cat walk adjacent the derrick.

A drill collar is exceptionally heavy, and is very difficult to shift between the positions indicated above. In this connection, the general practice heretofore followed, after the drill collar has been pulled from the drill hole and hung in the derrick on the elevators, has been to pull the lower end of the collar from the rig floor, and place it upon the inclined ramp extending from the rig floor to the cat walk. The drill collar is then lowered, and the lower end thereof slides down the ramp to the cat walk. Thereafter, power operated pulling means is attached to the lower end of the collar to pull it across the cat walk simultaneously with the lowering of the upper end of the drill collar, until the drill collar is resting horizontally upon the cat walk. As the lower end of the drill collar is pulled across the cat walk, it does considerable damage to the cat walk floor, and is also quite dangerous to the worker handling it.

It has been proposed, heretofore, to improve upon this method of handling drill collars, and such devices as have heretofore been provided along this line have in fact represented an improvement. Nevertheless, these have not found wide commercial acceptance, since they require much time and labor to operate, and further in view of the fact that they have failed to eliminate the element of danger.

Accordingly, the main or broad object of the present invention is to provide a drill collar laydown wagon which will be attachable with speed and facility to the lower end of a drill collar While the drill collar is suspended within the derrick, and which will provide a rollable support for the lower end of the drill collar throughout the operation, and will thereafter be detachable from the drill collar with speed and facility.

Another important object is to provide a device of the type stated which will be so formed as to hold the drill collar elevated above the cat walk floor during the shifting of the drill collar, so as to eliminate all possibility of damage to the floor during the operation, and which will, at the end of the operation, be swiftly adjusted to a position in which it lowers the drill collar to a dropped position in which it is resting upon the cat walk floor, and in which it relieves the laydown wagon of its load, so that the wagon can be easily removed from the collar.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a drill collar laydown wagon which will shift the drill collar from said elevated to the dropped position merely by a sharp stroke of a hammer.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, portions being broken away, of a derrick, ramp, cat Walk, and drill collar with the laydown wagon attached, at an intermediate position of the drill collar during the lowering thereof from a suspended position within the derrick.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the drill collar laydown wagon adjusted to its elevated position, a portion of the tongue thereof being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 in which the laydown wagon has been adjusted to its dropped position.

Fig. 4 is a perspective View on a reduced scale of the frame of the laydown wagon.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 showing the lower end of the drill collar and the laydown wagon in dropped position.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view partly in section and partly in elevation showing one set of toggle arms which function to permit ready removal of the lay down wagon from a well drill core.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the laydown wagon that constitutes the present invention includes a yoke-like U-shaped frame which, as readily seen from Fig. 4, includes side plates 1 disposed in spaced parallel relation and formed with the transversely aligned rock shaft hearing openings 2 intermediate their ends. At one end, the side plates 1 are provided with transversely aligned pivot bearing openings 3. The side plates are rigidly connected intermediate their ends by the cross member 4 of flat bar stock, and welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the cross member and extending upwardly at an incline therefrom are spaced parallel pivot brackets 5.

Integral or otherwise rigid with the cross member 4 are spaced bearing plates 6 formed with axle bearing openings 7 aligned with each other and with similar bearing openings 8 formed in one end of the side plates 1. Thus, a plurality of spaced bearing plates are provided, and in the spaces between said bearing plates there are positioned wheels 9. The wheels are rotatable upon an axle 10 extending through the openings 7 and 8 of the supporting frame.

Journaled rotatably in the bearing openings 2 is a transversely extended rock shaft 11, and rigidly secured to the medial portion of the rock shaft and extending at right angles from the rock shaft is an elongated tongue 12 to which is welded or otherwise rigidly secured an eye 13. The tongue 12 is adapted to be inserted in the lower end of a drill collar, in a manner to be presently rnade apparent, and the eye 13 is for receiving a cat line.

A crank arm 14 is provided, pivotally connected at its outer end to spaced links 15 by means of a bolt 16 or equivalent pivotal connection. Pivotally connected by bolt 17 to the other ends of the links 15 is one end of a lever handle 18 fulcrumed intermediate its ends, by means of pivot bolt 19, upon the upper ends of the brackets 5.

Welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the opposite end portions of the rock shaft 11 are radial bearing arms 20, in which is journaled a transversely disposed secondary rock shaft 21 with which said crank 14 is made rigid in any suitable manner.

The ends of the secondary rock shaft 21 project through the bearing members 20, and rigidly secured to said ends of the rock shaft 21 are crank arms 22 pivotally connected by bolts 23 to a pair of links 24 that are pivotally connected at their other ends by means of bolts 25 to the side plates 1 of the frame. The bolts 25 extend through the openings 3 of said side plates.

Considering the operation of the device, it will be assumed that a drill collar 26 has been pulled from a drill hole and is being supported vertically within the derrick, by means of a cat line 28 passed through the eye 27 commonly provided upon the upper end of the drill collar. The cat line 28 extends downwardly within a conventional derrick 29 extending upwardly from a rig floor 30. An inclined ramp 31, in conventional derrick construction, extends from one side of the rig floor to a cat walk 32.

When the drill collar is to be shifted from its vertically suspended position to a position in which it is horizontally supported or resting upon the cat walk 32, a cat line is attached to the eye 13 of my device, and the device is pulled upwardly thereby until the tongue 12 of the device is fully inserted within the lower end of the drill collar. Thereafter, the drill collar and the device are lowered until the wheels 9 engage the rig floor 30. It will be understood, in this connection, that when the device is attached to the drill collar in the manner described, the parts of the device will have previously been adjusted to the position thereof seen in Fig. 2, which position can be termed the operative or elevated position of the laydown wagon.

To continue, further lowering of the drill collar will cause the rollably supported lower end of the collar to travel down the ramp to the cat walk 32 and over said cat walk, with the lower end of the drill collar being supported in elevated position by the laydown wagon. As will be appreciated, said lower end of the drill collar will be exerting its full weight upon the tongue 12 of the laydown wagon, tending to force said tongue downwardly, but nevertheless, the tongue will not swing downwardly from its elevated position. This is due to the fact that the main rock shaft 11 with which the tongue 12 is rigid, is locked against rotation at this stage of the operation by the members 24 and 22, which when positioned as seen in Fig. 2, prevent swinging of the crank arms 20, that are rigidly secured to the main rock shaft, in a clockwise direction.

In any event, in this position of the parts, the lower end of the drill collar will be supported in elevated position above the cat walk until the drill collar is fully lowered. When the drill collar has been fully lowered, it is necessary simply for a worker to tap the free end of the lever handle 18 with a hammer or similar object. This free end of the lever handle is struck a downward blow with the hammer, not shown, the free end being the right hand end of the lever handle when viewed as in Figs. 2 and 3.

In any event, this causes the inner or left hand end of the lever handle to be rocked upwardly, so that the links 15 connected to the handle swing the crank arm 14 upwardly or counter-clockwise when viewed as in Figs. 2 and 3. The crank arm 14, being rigidly secured to the secondary rock shaft 21, rocks said secondary rock shaft counter-clockwise, so that swinging counter-clockwise movement is imparted to the links 22, carrying with them the members 24; the members 24, being longer than the members 22, drop the end of the frame to which they are connected, the frame pivoting downwardly upon the axle 10. The position of the parts in this dropped or inoperative position of the device is seen in Fig. 3.

As the frame swings downwardly, it carries with it the main rock shaft, and this lowers the tongue 12, so that the drill collar is dropped to a fully horizontal position as seen in Fig. 5, in which it is supported upon the cat walk 32, and in which it no longer exerts the pressure of its weight upon the tongue 12. It is necessary, now, merely to pull the tongue out of the drill collar, that is, to the right in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 6 the parts are shown in the position it will occupy just prior to the removal of the elongated tongue 12 from the well drill core, the frame 1 being disposed at a slight angle to the axis of the tongue. When the end portion of the member 18 is struck with a hammer, the toggle arms 22 and 24 are moved past a dead center locking position whereupon the rear end of the frame will move to the position shown in Fig. to permit easy removal of the laydown wagon. The longitudinal axis of the shafts 11 and 21 are parallel and the shaft 11 is rotatable in the frame while the shaft 21 is rotatable in the arms 22 which are pivotally secured to the arms 24 which are pivotally mounted on the frame 1.

Important characteristics of the invention may now be noted. The device is capable of manufacture at relatively low cost, and of fundamental importance is the fact that it is attached to and detached from a drill collar with maximum speed and ease. Heretofore, devices for similar purposes have been designed in a manner to be clamped around the outside of the drill collar, and have utilized set screws in the clamping means to hold the device to the collar while the collar is being laid down. When the collar has been dropped to its fully horizontal position, it has been a serious problem to loosen the wagon from the collar, since the drill collar is exerting its full weight directly upon the clamps, and as a result, a considerable amount of labor and inconvenience is caused, considerably in excess of that involved in the use of my device when considering the operation of laying a collar down from beginning to end.

What is claimed is:

1. A drill collar laydown wagon for handling oil well drill collars comprising a generally rectangular frame, an axle journalled in and extending transversely of said frame, wheels mounted on said axle and held in spaced relation thereon, a main shaft extending transversely of said frame and journalled therein so as to turn said frame about a'fixed axis which extends parallel with said axle, a rigid projection on said main shaft adapted to engage an oil well drill collar and to support the weight of the same on said frame, a secondary shaft extending transversely of said frame and parallel to said main shaft, means journalling said secondary shaft on said main shaft, a plurality of pairs of hanger arms pivotally securing said secondary shaft to said frame and permitting a slight tilting of said secondary shaft relative to said axle and to said main shaft, means connecting said secondary shaft with said frame for locking said frame against turning movement about said axle under predetermined conditions and manual operable means connected to said locking means for quickly releasing said locking means to permit the rear end of the frame to be lowered to a horizontal position to permit the ready removal of the laydown wagon from a drill collar.

2. A drill collar laydown wagon for handling oil well drill collars comprising a generally rectangular frame, an axle journalled in andextending transversely of said frame, wheels mounted on said axle and held in spaced relation thereon, a main shaft extending transversely of said frame and journalled therein so as to turn about a fixed axis which extends parallel with said axle, a rigid projection on said main shaft adapted to engage an oil well drill collar and to support the weight of the same on said frame, a secondary shaft extending transversely of said frame and journalled on and parallel to said main shaft, a plurality of pairs of hanger arms pivotally securing said secondary shaft to said frame and permitting a slight tilting of said secondary shaft relative to said axle and said main shaft, means connecting said secondary shaft with said frame for locking said frame against turning movement about said axle under predetermined conditions and manual operable means connected to said locking means for quickly releasing said locking means to permit the rear end of the frame to be lowered to a horizontal position to permit the ready removal of the laydown wagon from a drill collar, said locking and lock releasing means comprising toggle connections secured to said secondary shaft and to said frame and adapted to be moved to a dead center locking position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,829,879 Stephens Nov. 3, 1931 1,971,437 Wright Aug. 28, 1934 2,296,705 Childress Sept. 22, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 742,679 France Jan. 4, 1933 

